Plex, an especially handsome piece of media center software, has been shoehorned onto jailbroken AppleTVs. It's still in early development, but man if this isn't the most beautiful way to stream all those files of yours to your TV screen.

The standard cheapo dorm room media center is a few cinderblocks and a few two-by-fours. But that is a pretty ugly and cliched solution. This Freefold shelving system is instead made of cardboard, and it actually looks pretty slick.

Windows 7 Media Center and Boxee each has its own strengths, and now the Boxee Integration App gives you access to both with minimal hassle.

Like Kate Moss, this crazy thin EdgeCenter media server from Piixl (who?) is nearly invisible when viewed from the side. And that's precisely the point, as the pricey unit is meant to be hidden behind your HDTV.

Roku updated the lineup today with two new models bookending the current Roku HD: The $80 standard-def SD and the $130 HD-XR, which I tested. It's solid, but still needs a firmware upgrade (coming soon) before it feels truly next-gen.

Sure, Windows 7 Media Center is included with the OS, but if you can't give up your TiVo interface, here's a cheap way to roll your own, HTPC style—$60 for Nero Liquid TV software and a tuner card.

Starting today, early Windows 7 adopters have access to a streamlined Netflix Watch Instantly experience and a Internet TV update that includes a whole bunch of new content.

This Ceton Multi-Channel CableCARD is very interesting, both for its ability to decode six cable streams at once to record six shows at once on your Windows Media Center, and for the fact that it's not all that expensive.

To continue our review of the Niveus Zone Pro media center, we put Windows 7 on there to try out all the new features, like better sharing of recorded shows.

FINALLY. Microsoft and CableLabs are finally opened the door to have regular people add in CableCARD tuners by themselves, after they've purchased the PC and set it up. This is good news.

The Niveus Zone was good, bringing an HD HTPC to your living room in a compact box, but the Zone Pro is three times the speed of the old one. And it shows.

Want to get media onto your TV using some of that fancy DLNA standard hardware? You still might be at a loss for which media center software is right for you, but now there's a handy chart.

Well, it's Japan-only for now, but the Wii is finally starting to compete with the PS3 and Xbox 360 in the only category in which it's in third place: Media center functionality. CinemaNow, apparently, is the guinea pig of choice.

Microsoft's bringing the "Sports Channel" to Windows Media Center (Vista), which is to College Basketball what the Olympics On The Go was to the Beijing Olympics.

Microsoft has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to the living-room PC experience, thanks to Media Center. Slick interfaces and powerful audio/video features combine with the power of a full computer to create a nice experience—though it pays if your PC is CableCard-compatible, for full HD over cable. In…

Toshiba's jump into the network-enchanced home entertainment game is partnered with Microsoft—Windows Media Extender functionality, along with Yahoo widgets, will hit their Regzas, combo LCD/DVD players and a standalone player—but we'll have to wait.

A few days back, I showed you the new touch interface for Media Center PCs running Windows 7, and though I had to pull the video, I promised a walkthrough of proposed Windows 7 Media Center features. I say "proposed" because, like everything else about Windows 7, this is all alpha and subject to change. But these…

Visiting Microsoft's Media Center posse in Redmond, I just caught a glimpse of the Windows 7 Media Center interface with integrated touch control (no third-party software) on an HP TouchSmart. All I can say is, I've always loved the MCE user experience—it really is a highlight of Microsoft design—but adding smooth…